Make Something Monday ... Christmas Recipes

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed the time with your family. Ours was different but fun! The kids had fun opening all their gifts and I even got some down time! Dinner wasn't anything special but I did try two new recipes and thought I'd share those with you along with one more that I posted a while back but thought I'd share also.

Enjoy!

Dinner Is Served. Simple but Yummy!

And some recipes to share:

Here are my mom's Famous Green Beans

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs Fresh Green Beans

1 pkg Bacon

1 Large Onion

1 can of Chicken Broth

Snap of the ends of the green beans, wash them and let them sit aside. Brown up the bacon, I usually take the scissors and cut them up into the pan. It makes it really easy! Add in the chopped onion and brown both up. Add in the green beans and broth (this time the box was on sale and it was the organic kind ... score). Let sit over medium heat until beans are tender.

Now for a new Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

This was very rich I wouldn't say to make this one every time.

But VERY yummy!

Ingredients:

5 Tbs. (45 g) all-purpose flour

1 lb. (450 g) elbow macaroni

3 12-oz. cans (1 L) evaporated milk

5 oz. (140 g) American cheese

8 oz. (225 g) extra sharp cheddar cheese

3 oz. (85 g) Monterey Jack cheese

1/8 tsp. (0.3 g) ground nutmeg

1 tsp. (3.3 g) ground mustard seed

2 tsp. (12 g) table salt

4 Tbs. (55 g) melted butter

1 teaspoon (5 mL) of hot sauce

No of course Christmas day I only had one can of evaporated milk so we made a quick dash to the corner store and yup they had ONLY 2 cans, saved!! Again this is very yummy but with all that evaporated milk it's very rich, I suggested eating a little and savoring it!

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Bring four quarts of water to a hard boil. Dissolve at least 1 Tbs. (18 g) table salt into the water and add the macaroni. Prepare a roux by heating (over medium heat) 4 Tbs. butter until it foams. Then stir in the flour and cook while stirring until light brown (about 1 minute). Slowly add evaporated milk while stirring until all the evaporated milk has been added to the pot and no clumps of roux remain. Stir in the hot sauce, nutmeg, mustard, and salt. Cook the mixture for about 4 more minutes on medium heat. The mixture (a béchamel sauce) should have thickened up. Move the pot off the heat source and stir in the grated cheeses and 1/2 cup reserve water. Keep stirring until the cheese completely melts into the bechamel. Stir in the cooked macaroni so that the sauce completely coats all the pasta. Pour the macaroni and cheese into a 9x13-in. baking pan. Cover the top of the macaroni and cheese with the bread crumb mixture. Bake for 25 minutes (when the edges begin to bubble). Remove from the oven and let the casserole sit for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into it to serve.

*Note you can make your own bread crumbs or use store bought. I found some Panko Bread Crumbs at the bulk store cheap so I used them. I found this recipe over at cooking for engineers.

Baked Pumpkin Tapioca Pudding (Gluten Free, Lactose Free)

For the love of Pete I of course had to throw in another pumpkin recipe. I did use a sugar substitute in this one and for next time I think I'll use the normal stuff. It was good but I think it could be a LOT better if it had a little sweetness to it! I so wanted a tapioca and pumpkin so I was on a mission to find something ... LOL.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup tapioca pearls (the quick kind, not the really big pearls)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. clove

3 extra large whole eggs (or 4 large)

1 can (29 oz.) pure pumpkin

3 cups water

Preheat your oven to 425. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and tapioca in a large bowl. (Or you can be lazy and do as I do and mix it right in the casserole you will bake it in. Just be sure to clean the sides first. Once it gets baked on in a thin film, it's really hard to clean off.) Beat in the eggs. Add the pumpkin and mix it all really well. Carefully stir in the water. Pour into a large casserole (I use one with a 3 quart capacity) and bake at 425 for 20 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for another 60 minutes. I got this recipe off search Swap.

Hope you enjoy these recipes :).